Chronic Pain Clinic

The Pain Management service runs a Chronic Pain Clinic to provide a range of approaches to support people who experience ongoing pain.

We work to help patients to better manage ongoing pain, understand pain and learn strategies that they can use to help in their day to day activities.

The Chronic Pain Clinic provides a coordinated, multidimensional approach to the management of chronic pain.

The Chronic Pain team may initially recommend that a patient attends an Understanding Pain Education Group (PEG).This, one-off, two hour group session will assist them, to better understand ‘pain’ and be introduced to what the clinic has to offer.

They may then be offered an appointment with a specialist pain management doctor for medical management and/or an allied Health team member within the Chronic Pain Clinic.

At the clinic they will see a number of health professionals from various disciplines including:

Doctors

Nurses

Physiotherapists

Occupational therapists

Clinical psychologist

Social workers

We also work closely with other teams in the hospital such as the Drug and Alcohol Service, Palliative Care and Liaison Psychiatry.

Inpatient services

We work closely with wards and specialists in the hospital. For people with significant disability associated with their pain it may be appropriate for us to arrange a hospital admission for:

Specialised services

Lower Back Pain Education Group, specifically for those with low back pain

Senior Pain Education and Management Group

Tai Chi for Pain Management

Pain Management Programs (Intensive programs). In these programs, people from various disciplines help you to learn to better manage your pain. Your doctor and treating team will recommend how long you should attend the program for

Referrals

We accept referrals from any source for this service, including GPs, family, carers, case managers and self-referral.

The Direct Access Unit also welcomes phone enquiries to discuss potential referrals or an existing referral.

Referrals are triaged depending on priority. Emergency cases can present to the Emergency & Trauma Service at any time.

Once a referral has been received, a Care Coordinator will phone the patient to discuss their needs and organise appropriate services. The Care Coordinator will provide the patient with their phone number. Patients are encouraged to contact the Care Coordinator if they have any concerns.